The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Verbena plant, botanically known as Verbena hybrida, and hereinafter referred to by the name ‘RIKAV18302’.
The new Verbena plant is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Higashiomi, Shiga, Japan and Bonsall, Calif. The objective of the breeding program is to create new vigorous and freely-branching Verbena plants with numerous flowers and tolerance to powdery mildew.
The new Verbena plant originated from a cross-pollination made by the Inventor on May 5, 2010 in Higashiomi, Shiga, Japan of a proprietary seedling selection of Verbena hybrida identified as code number 09V852-01, not patented, as the female, or seed, parent with Verbena hybrida ‘USBENAL8’, disclosed in U.S. Plant Pat. No. 14,853, as the male, or pollen, parent. The new Verbena plant was discovered and selected by the Inventor as a single flowering plant from within the progeny of the stated cross-pollination in a controlled greenhouse environment in Bonsall, Calif. on Jun. 9, 2011.
Asexual reproduction of the new Verbena plant by terminal cuttings in a controlled environment in Bonsall, Calif. since Jun. 10, 2011 has shown that the unique features of this new Verbena plant are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.